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Chicken nuggets from the lab...
Researchers believe tissue engineering techniques
available today could be used to grow meat in the laboratory.
A single line of cells could produce the world's annual
meat supply. They say the resulting product could be made
without animals, would reduce environmental damage, and
could be much healthier. It will be a while before the technology
can produce large steaks or chicken breasts, the BBC reports,
but NASA has already created small quantities of edible
fish tissue.
Sensitive skin...
Japanese scientists have created flexible
plastic skin that measures temperature and pressure. This
could give robots a human-like sense of touch, WebIndia
says. It could even be engineered to give robots sensitivity
to light, humidity, strain and ultrasonic sound.
Black gold...
Immense oil sands deposits in northern Alberta,
could make Canada number three in world oil production,
after Saudi Arabia and Russia, Petroleum News says.
Current U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules don't
recognize the full extent of these reserves, it says, but
that could soon change. While existing rules estimate the
reserves at just 12 billion barrels, the accepted industry
figure is now closer to 175 billion barrels. The SEC may
soon change its rules to recognize the larger reserves,
the magazine says, triggering major acquisitions by American
oil companies.
Black hole...
Rising fuel prices are dramatically increasing
the cost of shipping, ZDNet reports. It says fuel
costs at UPS have jumped by 45.3 percent in the last year.
FedEx and UPS both levy fuel surcharges of 2.75 percent
on ground shipments, and 12.5 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively,
on shipments sent by air. The US Postal Service says every
one-cent increase in the cost of fuel adds about $8 million
dollars in expenses.
Mobile phone culture...
Wired reports highlights the findings
of a new book Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile
Phones in Japanese Life, which looks at the role of
mobile technology in Japanese society. The mobile phone,
the author says, has become "a source of pervasive
connectedness to friends, family, lovers and co-workers
-- a completely different kind of connectivity from the
'other-world' internet space experienced through personal
computers." Keitai space -- keitai is the Japanese
word for cell phone, meaning "something you carry with
you" -- has inseparably intertwined the virtual and
physical worlds.
The next generation...
MSNBC interviewed experts in China and India
to understand how today's youth will differ from their parents.
Will they be more Westernized? More optimistic? More ambitious?
What are their skills? Their values? How will they change
their countries?
The answers are revealing. "Among this
new generation," one Chinese participant said, "there
will be very energetic and talented people emerging as social,
economic, and political elites, and they are likely to guide
the Chinese economy all the way to rival that of the US
by the time they retire." "India's youth have
a very unique advantage," an Indian participant observed,
"a combination of mobility, language, education, a
thirst for knowledge, and technology-savvy nature. Add to
that a country that has an entrepreneurial spirit and a
very clear intent to adapt to Western culture, and you have
a very solid case."
Missing males...
The percentage of males born to the Aamjiwnaang
First Nation near Sarnia in Ontario, Canada has fallen to
34.8 percent, in the period from 1999 to 2003. This differs
radically from the Canadian average of 51.2 percent. Researchers
have found changes in sex ratios and reproductive health
in fish, bird and turtle populations in the same geographic
area. They expect the observed effects may be due to chemicals
released from adjacent industrial plants.
Keeping tabs on the future...
The Guardian reports on the state
of futurology, surveying the field of foresight and interviewing
leading practitioners. "With the future bearing down
on us with such velocity," author Hephzibah Anderson
concludes, "even futurologists are finding it hard
to predict what life might be like in 30 years time, let
alone in 50 or a 100."
David Forrest
we welcome your comments and feedback at mail@innovationwatch.com
SCIENCE
The
Map of Us All - [National Geographic] Spencer Wells
is risking life and limb to collect DNA from the most isolated,
remote peoples on the planet. Five years, 100,000 samples,
and 40 million dollars later, he'll have a new road map
to human history.
Bacteria
Designed to Make New Antibiotics - [Nature] Scientists
have overcome an important hurdle in the race to develop
new antibiotics: they have made bacteria efficiently churn
out chemicals that could prove to be useful drugs.
Key
to Stem Cell Holy Grail Found - [Korea Times] A Korean
husband-and-wife scientist team has made headway in adult
stem cell research by discovering a gene in charge of differentiating
the parent cells in human bodies.
Scientists
Aim for Lab-Grown Meat - [BBC] An international research
team has proposed new techniques that may lead to the mass
production of meat reared not on the farm, but in the laboratory.
Gene
Therapy To Treat Haemophilia; Cure Achieved In Dogs -- Are
Humans Next? - [Science Daily] Progress in gene therapy
to treat haemophilia has been impressive in the past few
years. Gene therapy has been used to successfully treat
haemophilia in dogs. A leading researcher from Philadelphia
USA, Professor Katherine High, is examining the obstacles
to successful gene therapy in human patients with haemophilia.
Spitzer
Finds Life Components in Young Universe - [Science Daily]
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has found the ingredients
for life all the way back to a time when the universe was
a mere youngster.
Whew!
Your DNA Isn't Your Destiny - [Wired] The more we learn
about the human genome, the less DNA looks like destiny.
As scientists discover more about the "epigenome,"
a layer of biochemical reactions that turns genes on and
off, they're finding that it plays a big part in health
and heredity.
TECHNOLOGY
The
Second Wave of RFID Technology - [NewsFactor] RFID system
costs have come down, finally making the technology's return
on investment attractive. While several years ago, the simplest
RFID tags cost $1 to $5, they now sell for 25 cents to 50
cents. And tag prices are still dropping.
Cosmic
Computing - [Science News] To see the light, you sometimes
have to journey through darkness. That aphorism, it seems,
applies not only to journeys of the heart but also to excursions
through the history of the universe. In the largest and
most detailed computer simulation of this cosmic saga, something
utterly dark shapes the universe as it unfolds over some
13.7 billion years.
SMErobot:
A New Generation of Industrial Robots for Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises - [Innovations Report] Integrated European
research project develops low-cost, modular and interactive
automation solutions for SMEs.
S.F.
Wants Wireless for Everyone - [Wired] San Francisco
wants ideas for making the entire 49-square-mile city a
free -- or at least cheap -- Wi-Fi zone.
E-skin
Gives Robots Human Touch - [WebIndia] Scientists in
Japan have developed flexible electronic skin that can give
robots an almost human sense of touch.
Japan
Project Aims to Create 3D Television by 2020 - [Reuters]
"Virtual reality" television would allow people
to view high-definition images in 3D from any angle, in
addition to being able to touch and smell the objects being
projected upwards from a screen parallel to the floor.
Rock
‘n’ Roll Robot Regains its Feet - [New Scientist]
A humanoid robot with an exceptionally nimble knack for
getting back on its feet after a fall has been developed
by researchers in Japan.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Social
Responsibility: Do the Right Thing - [Business Week]
Home Depot's Robert Nardelli says corporations have the
reach, means, and responsibility to give something important
back to communities.
The
Tao of Innovation - [Electronic Business] if you think
being an entrepreneur in the United States is daunting,
try launching a startup in China.
The
Seven Rules Of Innovation - [Optimize Magazine] Successful
innovation requires processes and tools that can recognize
good ideas and transform them into captured value.
Confessions
of an Executive Coach - [Conference Board] "In
my business," Omar Khan says, "there's a time
for empathy and a time for a measure of guidance. Part of
what happens when you really listen with openness is that
you can often detect a possible way forward, nestled right
there in what the other person is saying."
Takeover
Tidal Wave On the Way - [Petroleum News] The US Securities
and Exchange Commission will relax its rules on what constitutes
proved oil reserves, freeing major oil companies to embark
on a buying binge in the Alberta oil sands, predicts a leading
North American analyst.
Claim:
Nanofood Patents Could Close Down Innovation - [Food
Production Daily] Food companies have joined with gusto
the legal race to win monopoly control of discoveries in
nanotechnology that could help them market novel new products,
according to a Spanish research firm.
Rising
Gas Prices Fuel E-tailer Anxieties - [ZDNet] Online
retailers are starting to worry about spiking oil prices,
which briefly reached $67 a barrel and are elevating shipping
costs for some companies.
SOCIETY
More
Women Becoming Entrepreneurs - [The Times] The number
of female graduates who shun the traditional job market
to become entrepreneurs before the age of 25 leapt by almost
a quarter between 2003 and last year, according to a Barclays
survey.
Pop
Culture Heroes Help Recruit Priests - [Washington Times]
Dioceses across the country are borrowing from Tinseltown
to compare the austerities of the priesthood to the heroes
of "Lord of the Rings," "Gladiator,"
"Men in Black," "Spider-Man" and "Star
Wars." "They are appealing to young men's desire
to be a warrior for the good," said the Rev. Bill Parent,
executive director for Catholic identity and mission at
Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Look,
Ma, No Schoolbooks! - [Wired] Students at Empire High
School here started class this year with no textbooks --
but it wasn't because of a funding crisis. Instead, the
school issued iBooks -- laptop computers by Apple Computer
-- to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first
US public schools to shun printed textbooks.
Computer
Characters Mugged in Virtual Crime Spree - [New Scientist]
A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out
a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots"
to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game
Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged
for real cash.
Youth
of Today Spurn Podcasting - [vnunet] A new US survey
has shown that it's not young people who are driving the
growth in podcasting, but the older generation.
How
Mobile Phones Conquered Japan - [Wired] The popular
myth of Japan as a surreal, warp-speed incubator for all
things handheld and digital is nothing new. But rarely do
outsiders have an opportunity to venture beyond iconic anecdotes
for a matter-of-fact understanding of how mobile technology
shapes that country's culture -- and our own.
Expert
Roundtable 6 Chinese and Indian Youth - [MSNBC] How
are young Indians and Chinese different from their elders?
Are they smarter? Lazier? More creative? Less obedient?
How will their differences affect the development of the
two nations in coming decades, in everything from consumption
patterns to technological advancement?
GLOBAL POLITICS
US
Could Lose High-Tech Edge, Study Says - [Boston Globe]
China and India are educating so many scientists and engineers
that it is all but certain that the United States will lose
some of its technological advantage and will suffer difficult
economic adjustments, according to a recently published
paper.
High-Tech
Talent Flows Back to India - [Boston Globe] With the
maturing of the US technology industry, and the rapid expansion
of India as a center for software programming and business
process outsourcing, thousands of Indian engineers and managers
-- many of them US-educated and working on Route 128 or
in California's Silicon Valley -- are opting to go back
to their homeland.
The
Cockpit of Future Conflicts - [Guardian] East Asia,
far from being a distant region, is the cockpit of future
global trends and conflicts.
Homeland
Calling: The Role of Diaspora in National Development
- [Home Page Ghana] For the first time the Bretton Wood
Financial Institutions have acknowledged that workers remittances
to developing countries far outweigh global aid flows.
IT
Infrastructures Could Be Battlefields of Future Wars
- [Government Computer News] A professor from Auburn University
has made the case that the United States may face a war
in the future in which not a single shot is fired, but yet
America loses.
A
New World Economy - [Business Week] It may not top the
must-see list of many tourists. But to appreciate Shanghai's
ambitious view of its future, there is no better place than
the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall, a glass-and-metal structure
across from People's Square.
China
Hopes to Repeat India's Outsourcing Success - [CIOL]
China's outsourcing companies are aiming to replicate the
success of their Indian rivals to attract a larger share
of U.S. companies seeking to diversify business beyond India.
ENVIRONMENT
Support
for Nuclear Power Grows in U.S. - [Angus Reid] More
adults in the United States believe the country should build
new atomic reactors, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports.
55 per cent of respondents think it is time to begin building
nuclear power plants again, up 11 points since June.
Sensors,
Cameras to Record Tailpipe Emissions in California
- [San Francisco Chronicle] Sensors and video cameras on
Southern California freeways could begin recording pollutants
spewing from tailpipes by early next year as part of a program
to reduce smog levels in the nation's smoggiest region.
Canadian
Men an Endangered Species - [Science a GoGo] The Aamjiwnaang
First Nation community near Sarnia in Ontario, Canada has
seen an enormous decline in male births over the last decade.
The community lives on reserve land in the St. Clair River
Area of Concern, immediately adjacent to several large petrochemical,
polymer, and chemical industrial plants.
Britain's
Climate Blamed for Bird Changes - [Washington Post]
Climate change is to blame for alterations in the number
and distribution of birds in Britain, and more changes are
expected, according to a report.
Illegal
Animal Trade Goes Online - [Wired] Between November
2004 and January 2005, International Fund for Animal Welfare
found thousands of endangered animals and animal products
available for purchase over the internet, including a live
Siberian tiger for $70,000, a lion, peregrine falcons and
many medicines made from leopard, tiger, rhino and elephant
parts.
Greenpeace
Slams Toxic Tech Industry - [silicon.com] Workers in
China and India employed in the recycling of mostly western
electronic devices are being exposed to potentially hazardous
toxic substances due to the careless manufacturing practices
of technology makers, according to environmental campaign
group Greenpeace.
WHO:
Dirty Air a Regular Killer in Asia - [ABC News] Unlimited
energy. Fast-growing fruit. Free air-conditioning. John
Piña Craven says we can have it all by tapping the
icy waters of the deep.
THE FUTURE
The
Tomorrow People - [Guardian] Hephzibah Anderson meets
the men and women who make an industry out of predicting
the future.
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